52 THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com Deceased loved ones can and do visit us in our dreams. Often referred to as “visitation dreams,” they can provide us with great comfort.A visitation dream is different from a regular dream.The most important characteristic of a true visitation dream is that it feels real. It will also be very vivid. Because they are so real and so vivid, visitation dreams are remembered very clearly for a very long time— possibly forever.The loved one comes with a pur- pose and will convey a message and then be gone. After a visitation dream, upon waking, one will often be filled with a sense of peace and love. Dreams are problem solvers,Velva Lee Heraty told us.“Write down an intention, like ‘I intend to remember my dream.’ Then, write down a prob- lem,” explained Velva. “The unconscious never sleeps. That is why it is the problem solver. In my world, dreams are significant.” Velva was visited in a dream by her beloved dog Ms. Nena. “Dreams are not random. Every detail matters,” said dream analyst Lauri Quinn Loewenberg. Rhonda Cruz believes that a dog’s spirit remains with us forever. Occasionally, during a nap, she has felt her deceased dog Toby walk across her chest. “Toby used to scratch his back on the foot of our bed,” she told us. “One night, after he died, I woke up to the bed moving—the same way as whenToby was scratching his back.The next morn- ing, I told my husband about it. He hadn’t felt it, so he was skeptical—thought I had just imagined it.A few nights later, we were in bed and I felt the bed move again.This time, my husband said,‘okay I felt that too’ and never doubted me again. Have you ever been visited in a dream by a dog—yours or that of someone else's? That was a question we posed to followers of The New Barker on social media earlier this year.The response was wonderfully astounding with almost 2,000 people reached and too many stories to fit here. For now, enjoy a select few personal accounts from people we interviewed about their visitation dreams with dogs. A Life That Touches Others Goes On Forever. In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams...that is where you and I shall meet. Alice Through The Looking Glass. –by Anna Cooke Illustration by Krimzoya